


ring

by nagase (machogwapito)



Category: Japanese Actor RPF, Johnny's Entertainment, TOKIO
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Young Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 07:25:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2459891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/machogwapito/pseuds/nagase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tomoya contemplates the reason Matsuoka-kun seems different to him today.</p>
            </blockquote>





	ring

**Author's Note:**

> Set when the boys were still Juniors. The ring story + walking home together is a true story, and you can read about it [HERE](http://nagase.god.jp/post/94065045804/myojo-august-2001-matsuoka-masahiro-x-nagase) and [HERE](http://nagase.god.jp/post/92923607129/tokios-work-vol-39-the-relationship-between), respectively. The Mabo-being-interviewed thing is true, too, and you can read it [HERE](http://bovelby.tumblr.com/post/94012027583/really-old-baby-tokio-interviews).
> 
> I just wanted to write a drabble, but this one got away from me. :(

Tomoya isn't sure he wants to walk home with Matsuoka-kun today.

Well, clearly nothing bad's happened since they started doing it (which was from the beginning of Tomoya's Johnny's experience, he realises), but today he's nervous. Worried, maybe. He goes through numerous dance training sessions with only half a mind working, and that has the instructor frowning because he's always out of step. Tomoya apologises time after time again, bowing low so his fringe covers his eyes, but it doesn't make his performance any better.

His brain is all wonky.

And his left middle finger feels heavier.

Which is how his brain got all wonky, really.

Yesterday he went home with Matsuoka-kun in the typical fashion. They met up when they collected their shoes at the designated cubbies, Matsuoka-kun urged for Tomoya to tie his shoes quicker, and then they walked and joked around on the way to the train station. Tomoya forgets what they were talking about--something about curry udon pops into his head--but he remembers how Matsuoka-kun offered to pay for his train ticket, how Matsuoka-kun slung his arm around his shoulders and grinned.

That might've been how it started, now that he thinks about it. The heavy feeling in his chest, the constant clenching and unclenching of his fingers around his backpack strap--it started when Matsuoka-kun decided to be over-the-top- _nice_. And it isn't like Matsuoka-kun isn't always nice to him, no (amidst a smattering of teasing between him and Inohara, but if Inohara isn't around then Tomoya isn't bullied as much), but that was different.

Or maybe it was just different because of what came after.

* * *

Just remembering that instance has the back of Tomoya's neck turning warm, his stomach twisting in knots as he looks down at the ring around his finger. With vivid clarity he can remember when they walked through the turnstiles, stood by the tracks, and Matsuoka-kun suddenly let go of him saying he had _something to give you, Nagase, because you've been doing really good at practise lately_. The idea that Matsuoka-kun had noticed him and his efforts and attempts to be good had made Tomoya's entire being soar, he recollects with an embarrassed heat tingling up his spine.

He was so _happy_. (And still is, if he's going to be honest with himself.) He was happy as Matsuoka-kun shifted his backpack so that it rested on his front, he was happy as Matsuoka fumbled with the zipper of it, and he was happy even when Matsuoka-kun uttered a soft 'crap!' and something clinked onto the floor, rolling towards the train tracks. Tomoya rushed to retrieve it, but Matsuoka-kun already dove and nabbed it in his own hands before Tomoya could see what it was. Matsuoka-kun stood, dusted his pants, and clutched whatever had fallen tightly in his hand.

"What--" Tomoya began, only to have Matsuoka-kun reach out, grab his palm, and shove a ring into it. Confused at first, Tomoya lifted his head, and all he got was a smug smirk on Matsuoka-kun's face.

"For my favourite kouhai," he said matter-of-factly, zipping up his backpack and fixing it back into its original position.

Tomoya stared down at the ring and then back at Matsuoka-kun's face.

"What're you looking at, dummy?" Matsuoka-kun wasn't amused in the least. "Aren't you gonna put it on?"

So Tomoya did, and the train came, and they rode it. The train stopped, they left the station, and Matsuoka-kun walked him all the way to his front door to say goodbye, as usual.

It was more of the same.

Except Tomoya had that ring.

Today he woke up and twisted the metal over his finger. Today he woke up wondering why looking at it made him feel happy, or why thinking about seeing Matsuoka-kun today made him feel shy. Today he woke up and he forgot to get out of bed for breakfast because he was staring so long, so his sister yelled at him and he yelped an apology and she burnt his toast as a lesson for him not to try and skip breakfast again.

And now he's here after training by the shoe cubbies.

Waiting.

His rubbershoes are already tied.

* * *

There's the sound of footsteps rushing down the hall, and Tomoya turns his head on instinct. "Sorry, Nagase!" Matsuoka-kun gasps, panting for air. "We had... I had drumming practise." He inhales deeply and then winces. "What'd I pick the drums for, anyway? I can't even play those things for the love of... hey." Matsuoka-kun puckers his lips towards Tomoya's finger in a makeshift point. "You're wearing it today, huh? It's cool, right?" And the grin on Matsuoka-kun's face is so wide Tomoya can't bring himself to say no.

"I saved up heaps of my allowance for that," Matsuoka-kun says as he takes his shoes out of the cubby and sits by Tomoya's side to pull them on. "So you better take care of it. Otherwise I'll beat you up."

"I'm taking care of it!" Tomoya argues, huffing.

Matsuoka-kun laughs. "Nothing wrong with a little threatening, ne, Nagase?" And he reaches out to lightly smack the top of Tomoya's head.

The gesture is familiar, but Tomoya's heart raises at the simple contact regardless. It makes him pout. Matsuoka-kun mistakes it for indignance and pinches Tomoya's cheek hard while pulling.

"That hurts--!" Tomoya whines, trying to duck away and rubbing the sore spot. Matsuoka-kun gets to his feet and gently nudges Tomoya's ankle with the toe of his shoe and effectively changes the topic.

"Let's get you home safe before it becomes too dark, okay?"

Tomoya, still rubbing his cheek, nods his head.

* * *

They're waiting at the station again, but this time Matsuoka-kun doesn't wrap his arm around his shoulders. Tomoya's half-relieved and half-disappoined, and after that whole-irritated because the contact never mattered to him before.

"Matsu--"

"You have to work hard, okay, Nagase?" Matsuoka-kun says out of nowhere.

Tomoya blinks. "Huh?"

"Work hard," Matsuoka-kun continues, "so that you become popular enough... to be a permanent member of TOKIO."

"But... I can't play anything."

"You play the tambourine!"

"It's not a cool instrument like--"

"It counts, idiot. And don't talk back to your senpai." He smacks the top of Tomoya's head again. "Jeez."

Tomoya ignores the rapid thump-thump-thump of his heart. Matsuoka-kun isn't looking at him any more, his hands shoved into his pockets, but there must be something interesting about him, because Tomoya can't stop staring.

"... do I have something on my face?"

"Eh?"

Matsuoka-kun looks back at him, and somehow this is the only thing that has Tomoya swiftly looking away, feeling like he'd done something wrong. "... did I impress you yesterday?" Matsuoka-kun teases.

Tomoya furrows his brows. "Impress?"

"With the ring, stupid. The _ring_. I bet you didn't see that coming and now you think I'm the coolest guy in town." Matsuoka-kun puffs up his chest self-righteously and Tomoya scrunches up his nose on instinct.

But he thinks about it, and maybe that explains it. Maybe he's impressed. But he's impressed over a lot of other things, too, and they're not often as problematic as wanting Matsuoka-kun to wrap his arm around his shoulders again.

Tomoya starts again. "What do you call when you get really nervous thinking about being with somebody but still want them to do nice things like hold your hand and stuff?"

"Ha?"

"What do you call--"

"I heard you the first time." Matsuoka-kun blinks. "Do you have a crush?"

Tomoya's eyes widen.

It resonates with him, the word _crush_. But somehow it doesn't compare to the girl he'd liked in elementary and gotten rejected by numerous times. And somehow it doesn't sound right, because for one thing, Matsuoka-kun isn't a girl. He doesn't even look like a girl. And he isn't gentle and soft-spoken like all the other girls Tomoya's ever liked.

But then--

"You do, don't you!" Matsuoka-kun's laughing now, and Tomoya feels his entire face turn red in indignance. "You have a crush! Oh, man! Who is it? Someone at your school? Is she cute? Does she make her own bento--"

Matsuoka-kun never shuts up, Tomoya realises as he tunes out and just watches him, blinking in disbelief. He sees Matsuoka-kun's spit fly as he yammers on and on and on, and he's sure none of the girls he's ever liked has ever done _that_.

And yet... somehow it fits, in its own strange way, the term 'crush' and the name 'Masahiro Matsuoka'. It fits because when the train comes, Matsuoka-kun puts his hand on the back of Tomoya's neck to be sure he won't lose him in the crowd of people, letting go only when they stand together safely inside. It fits because Matsuoka-kun grabs Tomoya's wrist at their stop to be sure he isn't leaving him behind. It fits because Matsuoka-kun tells Tomoya jokes and makes him laugh and Tomoya forgets the whole ring dilemma in the first place. It fits because when Matsuoka-kun apologises for taking Tomoya home late, his sister only clicks her tongue fondly before asking him if he wants to stay over for dinner. And it fits because, when Tomoya just says 'Mabo' in an attempt to get his sister to pass the mabo dofu to him, it's Matsuoka-kun who offers it with a teasing look in his eyes.

"Usually people say 'please'," Matsuoka-kun states, all harrumphing and superior. "Unless you were thinking of calling me Mabo, now?"

It fits because Tomoya sticks his tongue out and says 'at least it's shorter than Matsuoka-kun'. It fits because Matsuoka-kun laughs and says 'maybe I'll get used to it if you keep saying it, but it's a crummy nickname!'.

And it fits because when Tomoya tells him 'good night, Matsuoka-kun', he argues with an, "I thought it was Mabo, now?"

* * *

In the end, Tomoya decides maybe having a crush on Masahiro Matsuoka isn't so bad. He twists the ring around his finger a lot: before going to bed, when he wakes up in the morning, and before he has to take any big tests or get into any tough rehearsals.

That is, until Matsuoka-kun answers an interview saying he wants his girlfriend to call him Mabo.

Then Tomoya decides that having a crush on Masahiro Matsuoka is the best feeling in the whole world.


End file.
